Jewish Berlin & Jewish Museum

Only through acknowledgment of the erasure and void of Jewish life can the history of Berlin and Europe have a human future. Daniel Libeskind, Architect of the Jewish Museum in Berlin

Themes of our private tour about the Jewish life in Berlin (including the Museum): Jewish history, Jewish life in Berlin, Jewish community, Jewish Museum in Berlin, Holocaust, persecution of the Jews, resistance, resistance to Jewish persecution... (you can select topics or get an overview of us).

In the immediate vicinity of lovely Hackescher Markt, with its winding streets and hidden courtyards, can be found the traces of Jewish life, which has heavily influenced this neighborhood, and monuments to it. Let us take you on a tour through the streets of the "Scheunenviertel", where the famous "New Synagogue" is, and where immigrants from Eastern Europe did create a unique and colorful atmosphere in the heart of the city – an atmosphere still alive today.

We take you to the tomb of Moses Mendelssohn, to the place where the first synagogue was, back in the 18th century, and where, under the "Third Reich", the German wives of the Nazi regime wrested their husband taken for deportation.

Discover the Jewish Museum of Berlin – the largest Jewish museum in Europe – on a private tour with our licensed guide. Designed by the architect Daniel Libeskind, the museum gives an overview of two millennia of German Jewish history, in particular the highs and lows of the relations between Jews and non-Jews in Germany.

The Jewish community existed in Berlin since 1295 (first mention). Learn about the experiences of Jewish families in Berlin during the persecution of the Jews under the national socialism, but also about the new structure of the Jewish community after the war. Experience the contemporary and increasingly established Jewish Berlin with a growing population of nearly 20,000 faithful.

Your private guide

Let a guide with in-depth historical knowledge show you the Jewish Berlin and/or the Berlin Jewish Museum. Immerse yourself in the history of the Jewish community in Berlin. Our guides are all licensed for the Jewish Museum. On request, we can also provide you a Jewish guide.

Some places of interest on your Jewish Berlin Tour

The beautiful golden-domed Synagogue of the Reform community, built in 1864, once seated over 2,000 people. It was rescued by a police officer during Krystallnacht when Nazi Storm Troopers tried to burn the building. Still a major landmark of Berlin today, its history ties together the major periods of Berlin’s history; from the fall of the Kaiser, to the Night of Broken Glass, from the East German regime to present-day Jewish life.

First of all, this could be the most impressive architecture you have ever seen. Architect Daniel Libeskind shaped the museum like a shattered Star of David. The voids inside the building symbolize the missing pieces of European Jewry. Everything here has a symbolic meaning, from the garden of exile to the holocaust tower. This is a large and very informative exhibition and it does make a difference to have a tour guide with you.

The original cemetery used by the community between 1671 and 1828. This is the burial site of Moses Mendelssohn, the famous Jewish thinker and philosopher known as the German Socrates, founder of the Haskalah movement (Jewish Enlightenment), which explored a modern, secular Jewish identity. Next to the cemetery stood a Jewish nursing home which was abused by the Nazis to imprison Jews who would later be transported to Auschwitz and Treblinka.

The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe(Holocaust Memorial) was built from2003 to 2005 andintendsto commemorate the Jews murdered in the Holocaust under the rule of the Nazis.

The structure consists of concrete blocks (steles) and extends over an area of approximately 19,000 m² in the vicinity of the Brandenburg Gate, inthe historical center of Berlin. It was designed by Peter Eisenman.

The foundation stones of the community’s first Synagogue, built in 1714 after more than a century of exile from Berlin following medieval pogroms, can still be seen here. The Jewish community only got permission to build a synagogue when they assured the Prussian king that their taxes would not be reduced by the costs for the building. The king later visited the Synagogue and presented a valuable textile as a gift. Learn the multifaceted past of Jewry in Berlin.

Otto Weidt (1883-1947) was the owner of a Berlin workshop for the blind. During the Holocaust, Otto Weidt hided and protected his Jewish employees and saved many lives. After his death, a memorial plaque on the house in the Rosenthalerstraße 39 was attached. His former workshop is now a museum.

This Zionist orphanage was founded after World War I to meet the needs of countless observant refugees from Eastern Europe. To escape the Nazi terror from 1934-1938, the orphanage was relocated to Haifa, Israel, where it still thrives today.

It was Moses Mendelssohn's idea to start a Jewish school here in 1778. Until 1819 German and Jewish boys were taught here together. After that year, only Jews came here to learn religious ideas and secular facts. During the time of the National Socialists, the building was abused as a place where Jews who would soon be send to concentration camps had to gather. Today it is a Jewish high school which once again teaches German as well as Jewish young adults.

In 1943, 1 800 Jews married to non-Jewish women were arrested in preparation for deportation. Their wives protested here in front of the prison at Rosenstrasse. They were several thousand women, unorganized and unarmed. Finally the Nazis gave in, and most of their Jewish husbands survived the war. Let’s go back to the scene of the protest and look for the traces of this outstanding act of civil disobedience.

The synagogue of the modern Orthodox community that broke away from Berlin’s Reformist trend while embracing secular culture in 1869. Hear the stories of famed Rabbis and Torah scholars, Rabbi Hildesheimer and Rabbi Weinberg, who led the esteemed Rabbinic Seminary. A tour break in the kosher courtyard café of Jidass Yisrael is always a memorable event.

Duration: 3-8 hours (can also be spanned over several day in case of focus on specific content)

Our proposition for max 6 persons

Mercedes VAN Tour (driver + guide)

Meeting point: in your hotel

Start time: 9 am

Duration: 6 hours

Price: 600€ with VAT

Our proposition for max 20 persons

Private bus tour (Driver + Guide)

Meeting point: in your hotel

Start time: 9 am

Duration: 6 hours

Price: 960€ with VAT

Guest comments

”Led by individuals with close connections to Berlin’s Jewish community, these tours of Jewish Berlin’s past and present are warm and insightful. I give them my highest recommendation.“ – Rabbi Yitzak Ehrenberg, Chief Rabbi of Berlin

"Greta was our guide in Berlin around 10 days ago. I just wanted to let you know what a terrific job she did. She showed us what we wanted to see; was very informative and was such a sweet person. A very good representative for your company. By the end of the tour besides knowing more about Berlin, we felt we made a new friend. Thank you for sending her to be our guide." – Dick & Laura & Kaya